Marjorie Lord (1918-2015)

biography

Born Marjorie Wollenberg in San Francisco on July 26, 1918, pretty Marjorie Lord moved with her family to New York in 1933, during the depths of the Great Depression. With training in both acting and dance, she appeared on Broadway in 1935 in The Old Maid and also toured with the play. Her good notices earned her a a contract with RKO in early 1937. Her first film for the studio was the action flick Border Cafe (1937; with John Beal). After several more features with RKO, Lord's contract was dropped. She returned to touring in stage plays and took the lead role in the Westinghouse travelogue film The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair (1939). After touring southern California with Edward Everett Horton in the play Springtime for Henry, Universal signed her to a long-term contract.

LEFT: A 1940 promotional photo of Marjorie Lord from the play Springtime for Henry. CENTER A and B: Early 1940s Universal stills. CENTER C: Lord married second husband, producer Randolph Hale, in 1958. RIGHT: Late 1950s cheesecake photo

Lord met actor John Archer when they worked together in a stage production, and the couple married in December 1941. Meanwhile, Universal began a build-up for the young ingenue and cast her in her first Universal feature Escape from Hong Kong (1942; with Leo Carrillo and Andy Devine). With the birth of her son, Gregg, and the end of her Universal contract, Lord again headed to Broadway, acting in a couple of plays before the 1947 birth of her look-alike daughter, actress Anne Archer. Lord went back to Hollywood in 1948 with a starring role as the title character in the Eagle-Lion noir The Strange Mrs. Crane (1948; with Robert Shayne). Lord's marriage to John Archer did not fare as well as her career. Increasingly disturbed by her husband's alcohol problem, the couple separated in 1951 and divorced in 1953. Following the breakup of her marriage, Lord took many guest roles on popular television series such as The Lone Ranger and Fireside Theatre before being cast as the second wife of Danny Thomas on the long-running ABC/CBS series Make Room for Daddy in 1957.

the films of marjorie lord

Hideaway (1937)

From the RKO comedy Hideaway with Fred Stone and William Corson

Timber! (1942)

With Dan Dailey and Leo Carillo in the Univeral romance Timber!

Johnny Come Lately (1943)

As Jane in the drama Johnny Come Lately

New Orleans (1947)

With Arturo de Cordova in the musical New Orleans, released by United Artists

The Strange Mrs. Crane (1948)

Masked Raiders (1949)

With Gary Gray, Richard Martin, and Tim Holt in the RKO western Masked Raiders

Mexican Manhunt (1953)

With George Brent in the Allied Artists mystery Mexican Manhunt

Rebel City (1953)

With Robert Kent and Bill Elliot in the Allied Artists western Rebel City

Make Room for Daddy (1953–1965 ABC/CBS TV series)

With Danny Thomas in Thomas' long-running situation comedy series Make Room for Daddy. Lord served as a sort-of replacement for actress Jean Hagen, who departed the series in 1956

Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966)

LEFT: With Elke Sommer and Bob Hope in the comedy Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, released by United Artists. RIGHT: With Kelly Thordsen, Bob Hope, Benny Baker, Cesare Danova, and Elke Sommer

Sweet Surrender (1987 NBC TV series)

With David Doyle in the short-lived NBC situational comedy Sweet Surrender. This was Lord's last TV series

later years

Following the end of the series Make Room for Daddy, which left the air in 1964, Marjorie Lord put her acting career on the back burner. Lord's son and daughter were grown, and she had married producer Randolph Hale in 1958. On occasion, she would accept a role on television and in film, such as the Bob Hope comedy Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966; with Elke Sommer and Cesare Danova). Lord returned to television when Danny Thomas revived his successful series in 1970, retitling it as Make Room for Granddaddy, but ABC canceled the series in 1971 after 24 episodes. Her final series was the NBC sit-com Sweet Surrender, which aired in 1987. Lord retired from the screen in the late 1980s. Her second husband left her a widow in 1974, and she was widowed again in 2000. Lord passed away from natural causes at age 97 on November 28, 2015.

TELEVISION GUEST APPEARANCESThe Love Boat, episode April's Love/Happy Ending/We Three, originally aired January 12, 1980Fantasy Island, episode Family Reunion/Voodoo, originally aired February 18, 1978The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, episode Mystery of the Fallen Angels, originally aired April 17, 1977Love, American Style, episode Love and the Modern Wife/Love and the Phonies/Love and the Single Couple, originally aired October 27, 1969The Danny Thomas Hour, episode Make More Room for Daddy, originally aired November 6, 1967The Joey Bishop Show, episode This Is Your Life, originally aired October 11, 1961Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, episode Lucy Makes Room for Danny, originally aired December 1, 1958Wagon Train, episode The Willy Moran Story, originally aired September 18, 1957Zane Grey Theater, episode Decision at Wilson's Creek, originally aired May 17, 1957Wire Service, episode Hideout, originally aired October 18, 1956TV Reader's Digest, episode Lost, Strayed, and Lonely, originally aired March 5, 1956The Loretta Young Show, episode A Shadow Between, originally aired December 18, 1955The Star and the Story, episode Newspaper Man, originally aired May 21, 1955The Lone Ranger, episode The Law Lady, originally aired February 24, 1955Cavalcade of America, episode Decision for Justice, originally aired February 15, 1955Cavalcade of America, episode Take Off Zero, originally aired February 1, 1955Climax!, episode Epitaph for a Spy, originally aired December 9, 1954The Ford Television Theatre, episode Shadow of Truth, originally aired October 14, 1954Cavalcade of America, episode The Great Gamble, originally aired October 5, 1954Crown Theatre with Gloria Swanson, episode Hands, originally aired May 26, 1954Fireside Theatre, episode Like Father, So the Son, originally aired May 4, 1954Hopalong Cassidy, episode Tricky Fingers, originally aired April 2, 1954Schlitz Playhouse, episode Her Kind of Honor, originally aired March 19, 1954G.E. True Theater, episode That Other Sunlight, originally aired March 14, 1954Four Star Playhouse, episode An Operation in Money, originally aired March 11,1954Big Town, episode The Stranger, originally aired January 7, 1954Ramar of the Jungle, episode Call to Danger, originally aired, originally aired November 21, 1953The Ford Television Theatre, episode The Jewel, originally aired May 28, 1953Schlitz Playhouse, episode The Devil's Other Name, originally aired February 20, 1953Fireside Theatre, episode The Return, originally aired February 10, 1953Ramar of the Jungle, episode Blind Peril, originally aired January 1, 1953The Ford Television Theatre, episode Edge of the Law, originally aired November 6, 1952Fireside Theatre, episode Visit from a Stranger, originally aired October 28, 1952China Smith, episode Devil-in-the-Godown, originally aired September 16, 1952Fireside Theatre, episode Mirage, originally aired June 10, 1952Fireside Theatre, episode Brown of Calaveras, originally aired April 15, 1952The Adventures of Kit Carson, episode The Return of Trigger Dawson, originally aired December 1, 1951Racket Squad, episode Babies for Sale, originally aired November 9, 1951The Magnavox Theatre, episode The Three Musketeers, originally aired November 24, 1950Fireside Theatre, episode The Kingdom Within, originally aired November 7, 1950The Lone Ranger, episode Bullets for Ballots, originally aired May 11, 1950Your Show Time, episode The Real Thing, originally aired March 11, 1949

marjorie lord film now showing

Watch Marjorie Lord's 1939 film The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair